NASCAR to resume racing without fans from 17th May

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (Nascar) has announced to resume its season without fans starting on 17 May at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina with the premier Cup Series racing three more times in a 10-day span.

Nascar joins the UFC as the first major sports organizations to announce specific return to play plans since the global coronavirus COVID 19 pandemic shut down US sports in mid-March.

Nascar’s revised schedule goes only through May and has a pair of Wednesday Cup races, fulfilling fans longtime plea for midweek events. The first race is scheduled for Darlington, Nascar’s oldest superspeedway, followed by a second race at the 70-year-old, egg-shaped oval track three days later.

Nascar suspended its season on 13 March with only four of its 36 scheduled races completed.

Earlier CEO of Formula One group has expressed strong hopes to start delayed 2020 season in Australia this July. However, the races will conducted without spectators.

Season to start in Austria in July without spectators before ending in Abu Dhabi in December after races in Asia and the Americas, Chairman and CEO of Formula One Chase Carey said: “We are now increasingly confident with the progress of our plans to begin our season this summer,” “We’re targeting a start to racing in Europe through July, August and (the) beginning of September.” “September, October and November would see us race in Eurasia, Asia and the Americas, finishing the season in the Gulf in December with Bahrain before the traditional finale in Abu Dhabi, having completed between 15-18 races.”

In addition to this Carey said “Formula One had been working closely with teams and promoters and a definitive calendar would be published as soon
as possible.” “We expect the early races to be without fans but hope fans will be part of our events as we move further into the schedule,” “We still have to work out many issues like the procedures for the teams and our other partners to enter and operate in each country.”

Furthermore he said: “We will only go forward if we are confident we have reliable procedures to address both risks and possible issues,” he said. The opening race at the Red Bull Ring would held as planned over the July 3-5 weekend. Other races still hoping to rescheduled are Vietnam, China, Azerbaijan, Spain, the Netherlands and Canada.